| |
 |
Spy plane row over: China
|
CHINA said yesterday that the long-simmering row over a crippled US spy plane stranded on Hainan Island was basically over after the two sides agreed on how it should be dismantled and shipped out.
Foreign ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said China now hoped that relations with Washington, beset by a series of disputes since the new administration of US President George W Bush took office in January, would now get back on track.
“China and the United States have basically solved the matter of the plane, both the crew and the aircraft,” he said.
“Yesterday, both sides reached an agreement on the technical issues and now both sides are preparing for the disassembly and transportation of the plane,” Sun told a press conference.
“We hope bilateral relations can return to normal,” he added, three months after the US EP-3 spy plane was forced to land on Hainan after a collision with a Chinese jet fighter that killed Chinese pilot Wang Wei.
Sun also disclosed that a US technical team has flown to Hainan to prepare for the actual work of dismantling the US$80-million EP-3.
Sun did not give any immediate details of how the EP-3 would be removed from Hainan.
But Pentagon Spokesman Rear Admiral Craig Quigley said on Tuesday the talks with China revolved around loading the aircraft in pieces on a giant Antonov-124 cargo plane.(SD-Agencies)
|
|
|
|
